[ female announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. to hear more of phyllis's story, visit lyrica.com. a new secretary of defense or a new -- it's friday, february 1st, and this is "now." joining me today political -- well, the first word i'm tripping up on the first word. politico senior white house reporter glenn thrush. national news editor for the morning times sam sifton, kiran simone and the always buzzy ben smith. for eight hours yesterday senate

republicans directed their sharpest lines of inquiry towards defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. it's too bad most of it had nothing to do with the against defense department or what chuck hagel's record really says about what he might do with the defense department or really what chuck hagel's record actually is. freshman senator and deputy gum shoe ted cruz looked for needles in a haystack, parsing fragments of hagel's quotes circa 2006. >> in a speech on the floor of the senate you referred to israel's military campaign against the terrorist group hezbollah as a "sickening slaughter." now, i would suggest the characterizations. do you think it's right that israel was creating a sickening slaughter as you said on the floor of the senate. >> i think, again, i would want to read all of it, what i said. >> what cruz and his cracker jack detective work did not reveal was the actual substance of hagel's quote, which reads in full. "the sickening slaughter on both sides must end, and it must end now. president bush must call for an

immediate cease-fire." this was not the only example of republican sloouting unquestionable leads with even more dubious conclusions. senator kelly ayote was determined show that hagel voted against iranian sanctions even if he did so while supporting harsher sanctions. zifs one of some republican senators who did not want that to go forward. i voted against it in subcommittee, and the reason i did was because the bush administration did not want that bill to go forward. the reason that they didn't is because they were involved in negotiations with the russians and the u.n. and security council members to put multi-lateral sae multi-lateral sanctions on them. >> did you block a unanimous consent? >> yes, that's right. >> though the republican inquisition to little to reveal anything substantive about chuck hagel, defense secretary, the pink panther style sleuthing did reveal much about their feelings

regarding barack obama, president. of the many, many actually relevant items left largely off the table? not one question about drones, despite the fact the u.s. has carried out 362 drone strikes since 2004. troop suicides, of which there were as many as 349 last year alone were mentioned twice. rapes inside the military estimated at 19,000 per year got five passing mentions. while israel was brought up 166 times yesterday, afghanistan, the longest running war in american history, and one that has cost almost 2,000 american lives was brought up 20 times. glen thrush, i ask you, the hearings yesterday, were they ever even meant to be hearings, or was it a trial for the obama administration? >> i was just struck by the great positive energy that chuck hagel was giving off at these hearings. didn't he look like he had just been abduct and pushed out of a moving vehicle? >> he was facing eight hours of

questioning that as we showed at the beginning, in some ways had nothing to do with what he would do as defense secretary. >> i have been to several of these congressional hearings, and they very seldom have to do with anything that they're supposed to have to do with, but, i mean, i was just dumb struck by the lack of preparation or even red bull. i mean, he really literally looked like his head was going to hit the table. >> so you think the behavior and the line of questioning on the part of the republicans on the senate foreign relations committee is totally par for the course and that the fault lies with chuck hagel in terms of not being prepared? >> i think it is the responsibility of the nominee himself to turn the conversation around if he thinks it's going in an inane direction. these are not the fund mental issue that is will be facing him. forced realignment and the budget are the seminole things. that's presumably where he y is he getting the job in the first place. it is on hagel that he did not turn that line of questioning around on his -- >> do you think that is -- >> i think, glen, you're a tough critic right there. it's a rough room here now, and it's a rough room for hagel yesterday. i agree with you that it was

strange that there were some things that didn't come up, but not have north africa come nup a really substantive way, to not have the budget come nup a really substantive way was a problem for chuck hagel, and, you know, his ability or inability to bring those subjects to the fore on his own, i guess that is on him. i'm with you, i guess. >> ben, the "new york times" -- sorry. in the washington post jonathan bernstein -- >> let's get that right. "new york times". >> big difference. i'm not saying which one is better. jonathan bernstein writes in the washington post the confirmation process for chuck hagel is a good example of just how far off the rails executive-branch nomination and confirmation has gone. there's basically little in it for the senate when senators turn nominations into a series of gotcha moments and efforts to extrapolate the broad political philosophy of executive branch nominees." >> i have only been covering politics for i guess, 12 years now, so -- >> oh, my lord. did you really say that? >> maybe there's a golden era when senators did not

grandstand. that was not was chuck hagel was in the senate, but maybe in some previous -- i don't know. i kind of prefer that they would focus -- that they focus on differences, and that's what they were trying to do. they were trying to tease out the differences between their views and his. there are real differences. obama is nominating him not because he agree with republicans, but because he differs on them. one of the things they should have talked about probably the biggest area of difference where a lot of the -- is from defense contractors whose, you know, contracts he wants to cut. >> let me get this straight. you think the whole yes or no back and forth between john mccain and chuck hagel on the 2007 iraq surge was actually par for the course, that that was -- >> in fact, kind of interesting, right? >> in terms of a psychodrama. >> the republican party was over the iraq war, where they are attacking him as for opposing the iraq war. >> it's not that i don't think we can talk about the iraq war or the war in afghanistan for that matter, but the notion that you should have a yes or no answer to the iraq surge, which in many ways -- john mccain thinks the history books have been written on this. i believe -- >> no, it's still an open debate. absolutely. >> it's ongoing.

we still -- >> people did vote against the iraq surge. that seems to be a totally relevant thing to talk about now. >> i think the iraq surge is relevant. i think asking for a yes or no answer on it seems particularly short-sighted. >> not defending that. >> in the "new york times" there is an op ed that says the senators, especially republicans, did a poor job of drawing substance out of the moment, but after his appearance it's clear that mr. hagel is very much in the mainstream of american foreign policy." your thoughts on that? >> i think it was difficult in watching the hearings to understand why the obama administration has expended as much capital on him, frankly. i mean, i think if i was trying to imagine if hillary clinton or michelle florida had seemed as unprepared as he had been. yes, the senate was grandstanding. >> we agree, right? >> let's just say that he had eight weeks to prepare for these kinds of grandstanding attacks, fair or unfair, and he has seemed completely blindsided by them. i mean, we haven't even mentioned the fact that he had to be passed a note about the

policy on iran containment. that he misstated the administration's policy. i mean, yes, he is going to be confirmed. no one was particularly excited even the people who were in his camp when it comes to defense spending. >> i mean, the main reason for this nomination was to stick a finger in john mccain's eye. they have succeeded in that. >> do you really think that? >> i don't think it's between obama and hagel. >> not the only -- >> i hope it's not. >> you -- you've -- you're known to orbit around the white house from time to time. >> right. >> when the soup of the day is particularly tasty. i'm kidding. this is all out of love. glen -- >> potato cheddar. >> do you buy that line of argument from ben that this is sticking a finger in john mccain's eye, the hagel nomination, because we've been led to believe that there is a close saysness and a rep twar between the president and chuck hagel and that's why -- >> there are a lot of fingers being stuck in various eyes here. one of the other ones is apac, the fact that they got apac to

sit on their hands on this nomination, and the israel, not the jewish lobby, hasn't really weighed in in a meaningful way on this is a big deal for the white house, but, you know, part of this, i think, reflects the basic reality is they don't want a strong secretary of defense. i think what you are looking at here is somebody who is not at least initially seeming to position himself as a strong secretary of defense, does not have deep connections necessarily within the infrastructure itself, clearly doesn't have a lot of the bridges to the republicans in the senate. they want to run policy out of the white house, and that's one of the reasons they picked dennis mcdonough, who has a national security background to be the new chief of staff. >> sam, what of the republicans who already said they will not vote for him? now, we know roy blunt said he will not filibuster the nomination, but marco rubio released a statement opposing hagel five hours before the hearing was over saying in an op ed, this is a normal nation i can't support, and james inhoff said on january 13th he would

oppose hagel. lindsey graham remains reluctant, and john calls him weak and wobbly. did they get any points for -- >> they get grandstanding points, for sure. >> i guess so. which apparently is -- >> that's apparently the whole point. it's here we have a very dramatic ungentlemanly fight on the floor, and as i said at the beginning, in the end he will be confirmed. >> the nominee. >> what does it say about the republican party? i mean, if he is no longer really considered a member of the republican party? is that what we are to learn? >> i think he crossed them in a sort of -- there's a profound loyalty situation here, and not only did he not campaign with john mccain, he went to afghanistan, i believe, with barack obama. >> endorsed barack obama. >> endorsed barack obama. of course. so, yeah, i think they're mad. i think john mccain is mad that this isn't his second term, and this is their chance to show it. >> he also broke very dramatically with the republican party during the iraq war, did not just -- was not a kind of loyal disenter, but was a loud,

outspoken dissenter who got a lot of mileage, and they thought was sort of a publicity hound around being the official republican voice. that's -- this is where the republicans -- the bad blood for him begins. >> it should be said that john kerry has expressed a lot of the same doubts about the iraq surge as him, but he didn't commit -- >> that's it. the treatment of john kerry by john mccain versus chuck hagel and john mccain is night and day. we have to leave it there, but after the break top republicans m house and senate part way on a key debt ceiling bill. will the intraparty scism end in heartburn or heart break? for over 75 years people have saved money with...ohhh... ...with geico... ohhh...sorry! director's voice: here we go. from the top. and action for over 75 years people have saved money with gecko so....

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the republican party is engaged in a fierce game of tug-of-war with itself. last week after speaker john boehner pleaded with his party to vote for a bill to extend the debt limit for three months, 33 members broke rank. the measure would have failed without democratic support. yesterday the senate took up that same bill and even though it was hand-crafted by john boehner, eric cantor, and paul ryan, minority leader mitch mcconnell and 32 other republican senators opposed it. mcconnell's office released a statement saying leader mcconnell and other senate republicans had several amendments aimed forcing washington to cut government spending, but all were defeated by democrats. as a result, the leader simply couldn't support the bill. the word on capitol hill is that mcconnell's no vote was meant to appease his unruly kentucky constituents. perhaps angered over mcconnell's compromise on the fiscal cliff

made last month with vice president joe biden. that deal averted a potential downgrade of america's credit rating. speaker boehner's bill to extend the debt limit did much the same, but for the extreme right wing flank of the gop, supporting two bills to prevent possibly catastrophic damage to the u.s. economy is perhaps one bill too far. glen, we talk a lot about the tunnel that ends in heart break that the gop may or may not be hurdling down, but these votes lately on the hill seem to be representative of the -- of really the skism within the party. mitch mcconnell is perhaps in the most interesting i think straddle position, if you can call it that, as the two pieces of earth separate and he, in fact, may at some point be split in two because he is up for re-election in 2014, and, yet, he has been tasked with being the guy to get things through and prevent sort of catastrophe from befalling the country. >> well, what you are going to see, increasingly, and you'll see this in the house side too

are leaders doing these really tactical little maneuvers that they love to do. i was in the claim br when hillary clinton and barack obama -- there was some -- remember that iraq war resolution vote where each waited for the other to vote before -- they were the last two lingering in the chamber and deciding to vote. you see this tactical stuff all the time. i think you'll see increasingly -- the white house loves this. just to figure out ways to get it passed while preserving whatever they have to do cosmetically internally. >> it's not simply tactics. it's not simply the game of politics. there are also those unruly kentucky constituents, and i want to talk with those guys for a little bit because i think that one of the things we lose focus on when we're talking about the politics, is the deep divide that exists in this country today between a very far right that does not want to move toward the center at all. >> and is increasingly regionally isolated. >> away from urban centers. and the leaders who represent

those people in washington. they are -- they have ruly constituents in kentucky. they have to be respondent to. >> that's going to be -- ashley judd is the likely democratic nominee that he will be facing, and so far he is a great politician. not a great public politician, but they have managed very carefully to stamp out local conservative challenges. there isn't a strong conservative challenger to him right now. >> i think this is going to be brought to the fore in a practical sense because there is major policy. gun control is one thing. i think there's probably a bigger umbrella for republicans to march under. immigration is going to be really interesting. jonathan has a great headline in "new york magazine." "on immigration gop elites tell their base to pound sand." basically, he makes a point that there is this theme that republicans and arch conservatives in the republican party really care about cutting taxes on the rich, but when you study the tea party and the folks in the tea party, the thing they actually really care about is immigration.

it's a big priority for them. they do not want to offer "amnesty" of any kind. effectively, in taking up immigration reform, the elites of the party have told, you know, tea partiers and arch conservative elements, hey, we're not going to listen to you on this. what kind of -- >> i mean -- >> but does that -- i mean, i don't know. >> i think he is right about that, but i would take that -- i would flip it and reverse it because i think it implies there isn't latinos, which is really what the immigration reform compromise is all about are voting for democrats purely on the basis of immigration issues, which may be part of it, but also the other half of that gop elite equation is cutting very popular social insurance programs, so it's not clear that even if republicans piss off their base by going for immigration reform, that is enough for latino voters who are also concerned about medicaid, health insurance, social security, medicare. >> this is like -- this is at the very base, a foundational thing. who is the star of the chuck

hagel hearing? >> ted cruz, marco rubio. that's the latino right, which statistically is a pretty small percentage of latino voters in general, but the republican party cannot move forward at all without addressing this issue in some fundamental way. >> they're going to be ham strung. let's see what's on tap. tom hashingen is vacating his seat. steve king may end up being his replacement. steve king, who coined -- not coined, but uses, you know, with great impugnty the term anchor baby. saxby chambliss is leaving. john d. rockefeller leaving in west virginia. the leading goper is shelly -- murdock, again, we have this example time and time again the seat is offered up. the arch conservatives get their guy, and then maybe ashley judd or someone like her, some democrat from who, what, where,

when, how comes in and ends up winning the seat. >> charlize theron is -- >> from south africa. >> oh, sorry. >> there needs to be a reconciliation here, right? as the party becomes more -- the battle lines are drawn with firmer and firmer markers, if you will, how do you build the tent big enough? >> if every republican who looks toward the center and we just have a crazy right, this is not good for our democracy. i mean, that's the bottom line with those constituents. >> iran, you're a betting woman, aren't you? >> could be. >> you could be for this moment in this television moment. how worried does mitch mcconnell need to be? >> by ashley judd? i think -- >> in general. in general. but, yes, probably. >> i think ashley judd is -- she has her masters from harvard. i will not tolerate any snickering about ashley judd. i think possibly the state of kentucky does not know how liberal she is. we'll see.

with regards to dealmaking, i think the problem is that, yes, laugh these -- todd akin came from the house. a lot of these people, they can barely run statewide. they get into the senate maybe on a chance, and he is stuck with them. i think he has a very hard decision if he actually wants to get anything done as opposed to treading water. >> well, mitch mcconnell, we will see. two steps forward, one step back. how long can you do that? can do you that for two years? we have to leave it there. coming up, how am i doing? how am i doing is how he said it was his trademark tag line. former senator city mayor ed koch did pretty well. his life and legacy and that's coming up. the capital one cash rewards card

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>> that was a clip from a forthcoming documentary on ed koch who passed away this morning. born to polish-jewish immigrants, he became the face of new york during a turbulent economic time reviving the cities in the late 1970s and early 1908s. he lost in the primary to david dinkins. he often said joke about that's, the people threw me out, and now the people must be punished. ah, mayor koch. god bless him. he was 88 years old. ben smith, your favored ed koch memory/story? >> i wrote his obituary. i interviewed him for his obituary in 2002. >> wow. >> he had already by then written his epitath that appears on his tomb stone, which has already been made. i quoted it in the story, and there it is. i love that he recorded a video for the "new york times" that begins i'm gone now. he exits talking. he just never lost his step.

he just stayed. >> he never did. iran. >> i would say not to speak ill of the dead and with all respect to his legacy -- >> ah oh. >> i think -- no, it has to be recognized that he helped stoke a lot of racial tensions and splits between african-americans and jews which were regrettable and which luckily some of the bridges have been built since then. >> he did sort of own up to some of them in his later years or at least -- >> he does in the "times" video, obituary, you can see he wrestled with that issue in his life. he recognizes that despite all the good he did for the city, there are warts and loose ends to tie up. i met him as a little kid on the brooklyn -- in brooklyn on the fulton mall, hi, mr. mayor, shook his hand, and i knew had t would be okay to be bald. how about you? >> i'll never forget the first thing he said to me. at age 16 i was a high school kid, and i went to a blue room press conference in city hall, and i asked him a question, and he looked at me and he said

could you speak up? >> ed koch, the dearly departed. iran leaving me alone in the lion's den. thank you so much. thank you for saving me the first half hour. coming up, what do you get when you put together two big name chefs? one -- ingredients for an awesome conversation about food and cultural identity. and it's next. [ male announcer ] there's a story behind the silver of philadelphia cream cheese. it always begins with fresh, local milk, blended with real wholesome cream. going fresh from the farm, to our fridge, in just six days. because we believe in fresh taste. that's the way we set the standard for intensely rich, luscious flavor. so our story of fresh taste always ends... deliciously. when it comes to taste, philadelphia sets the standard.

when you lost the thing you can't believe you lost.. when it comes to taste, when what you just bought, just broke. or when you have a little trouble a long way from home... as an american express cardmember you can expect some help. but what you might not expect, is you can get all this with a prepaid card. spends like cash. feels like membership. >> eddie, a new york city proprietor has found fame with his pork buns, but he didn't always know he wanted to be a chef. wong was laid off from his law firm and moonlighted as a standup and pot dealer before launching his first restaurant in 2009. now is he out with a new memoir

fresh off the boat in which he describes growing up a taiwanese kid in suburban orlando. it was not easy. from basketball court heart break to near constant name-calling, he suffered at the hands of his peers. he said they would stand kroots the room pointed at me telling ching-chong jokes. i asked mom to start packing me white people food. after spernks the moment, he started to feet back. i refused to be that chinese kid walking everywhere with his head down. i wanted my dignity, my identity, and my pride back. i wanted them to know there were reprecussions to the things they said. there were no free passes on my soul, and everything they stole from me i decided i would take back double. taking back double led to an escalating series of brushes with the law which, in turn, led to a one-way plane ticket back to taiwan. it was at the night market where wong's knowledge nation was awakened. joining us now is the author of "fresh off the boat" chef eddie

wong and also to discuss the american cultural identity and tasty food in general, the author of american flavor chef and owner of the -- two of any favorite restaurants, andrew carmelinni and editor in chief bon appetite, spirit guide mr. adam rappaport. >> wow. >> welcome to the show, buddy. let's start with you. a really fascinating book. a great memoir. you know, you said in some recent interviews that the book is being hyped as a food memoir, but it's about self-liberation. my entire life the single most interesting thing to me is race and america. we mentioned the white people food quote, but also you talk about charles barclay being a big influence and african-american culture being a big influence. i guess elaborate on that. tell us how that sort of combination of influences came to make you the person and the chef that you are today. >> yeah, on the cover -- i love the cover because it's like 100 years of chinese history on the

cover. you have my grandparents who were born in china. my parents who were born in taiwan. me and my brother were born in america. the interesting thing -- >> there's the cover. >> there's the cover. the thing occurs of my parents being -- my mom had me, like, her third year in america, so i group and experienced -- >> fresh off the boat. i experienced america along side my mom and dad, and they really didn't know to tell me, hey, watch the christmas story. i remember going to people's houses and be, like, why does your dad have a leg lamp? i never understood it. we never saw those movies. i didn't know who jimmy stewart was. i didn't know anything. i was able to piece together bits and pieces of american culture that just made sense to me. you know? i think that's why my identity is so i haddo sin accuratic and so weird. i never allowed people to tell me you are supposed to like this. you are supposed to listen to this. you are supposed to, you know, relate to this. i went and i found things like jackie robinson and charles barclay and mark twain and

jonathan swift, and i had all these weird influences. it was just a gift in the curse of my parents not knowing to tell me, like, here is this kit of american culture that you're supposed -- >> isn't that -- i think about the dutch, which is one of your restaurants, and it is a new york city restaurant, and it's very essence as far as it has food from all over the burroughs, and being multi-cultural is in many ways being american in the 21st century. >> i was always more interested in what the grandmothers were cooking and, like, what the big chefs were cooking. even -- i'm half italian and half polish. you know, guys that work for me, they're korean-american, mexican-american, and that's the food that besides my own that i really, really embrace. i was always interested in what that soul was. you know, we'll never cook fusion there. we'll never do, like, lemon grass and gnocci and pasta, whatever. it's like finding the soul of something, and that's what always fascinated me. >> the whole authenticity thing is a big deal, and in one of

the -- i thought this is an interesting talking point for this panel, because you talk about there's an american food -- you give the tent talk this year on what the "new york times" described the "new york times" described as the shifting walls between authenticity and ethnicity. you said to me to me it's not how the food tastes. my ching is economics. if someone is going to profit off this culture, it should be the people who brought it. you are really taking somebody else's art ford, bastardize it and putting it in a form for others to consume. there's a political and social importance to food. you're not experiencing -- i can't read this. you're not experiencing it in its glory if you're not seeing that. what does that mean, though? only chinese people should be cooking chinese food? >> no. i actually -- i'm a big -- you know, my thing is this. i feel like a lot of people like to jump steps, at least in their understanding of food. number one, it's cultural soft power. that's how people fight these days is with soft power, and i think people need to in their cultures need to own the soft

power that they create, and they need to control the messaging. at least in the foundational, like, beginnings when you are introducing it to another country. i think a lot of times in america people will travel outside and go find something in burma or find something in laos or thailand, and they'll bring it back and put it on a plate and drizzle a sauce over, it and now it's a restaurant. >> that's $30. >> that's $30. >> but is it good? you look at mario bat aly. when he opened that restaurant and said, listen, i'm not making authentic itsian food. i'm making my interpretation of it, and it's damn good. you will only find this restaurant in america and specifically new york city. that's what makes this country great. just like you appropriated some african-american culture -- >> i didn't create the african-american culture. first of all, it's totally -- >> as an asian-american, i don't really have the power to appropriate, like, someone a dominant culture has. number one. number two, i'm not rapping. >> there is --

>> but there are non-african-americans that do rap. influence. just getting it, and that's what this country is a melting pot, and some people do it well. some people just rip stuff off. that's a fine line. are you ripping something off, or are you creating something new as artists do? artists are always taking other influences and make it their own. >> here's the way you can tell if it's not going right. if the person says this is -- >> if it's on a square plate. that's a start. >> i am throwing away all my square plates tomorrow. anything drizzled. if someone says it's authentic, you're in trouble. that's the problem right there. in food and in much else. >> i always found this just -- i started with italian cooking, and i didn't -- i grew up italian-american, and i didn't understand it until i went to italy, and after, like, going there and study and traveling, like, working with the chefs and eating at people's houses, like, i realized that authenticity is overrated. it really is. when it comes to food. even the italians will argue and

bicker if -- >> the italians argue. >> 80 miles between, like, i don't know, pisa and florence, and there's going to bel 0 difshlt opinions on how to make whatever. >> you go to taiwan, and gu to a street market, i love to see the new innovation, but the difference is this. i don't think the argument is does it taste good because i think that's a cop-out. you still have to pay attention to the power and, like, the power shifting and the power trading. the thing -- >> what does that mean exactly? >> that's the difference. >> a tech talk at a restaurant. >> and so, i mean, that's the problem. in taiwan at a street market, they're ino vat and creating, but it's for that palate. in italy, probably the same thing that's going on. i think a lot of times things get brought over, and now you're creating for the west village. >> that's my point. >> everybody makes -- >> in terms of that question of identity, because i think this is actually really important. gosh, we still have poor ben smith over at the bull cam. we have to get you in here. >> in terms of the question of identity, asian-americans, of which i am one, are rarely

talked about in the national political conversation, and, in fact, one of the reasons they were even mentioned in 2012 is because they overwhelmingly went for the president 73%, and then at the same time we talk a lot about the latten-american identity. asian-americans are the fastest growing racial group in the u.s. they grew by 128% since 1996. yet, there is no sense of sort of asian-american identity politics or even politics politics. why do you think that is? >> i mean, i think that the modern great wall is a cubicle. seriously. so many of us give up our lives to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, and, you know, you are kind of stuck behind that modern great wall, and i think that the community does need to take some blame because, for instance, my parents will always say too sometimes it would be great to go home. it would be great to go home. a lot of people when chinese first immigrated to this country, it would be the men that came and then sent money home and the rest of the family stayed back in china or back in taiwan or where they're from, and i don't think they really

ever felt a part of this country, but i think that at least our generation, people are. i'm american. i don't want to go anywhere. i love building here. i love new york city. it is a beautiful place where, like, i can be influenced by all the things i have been, so i think that our, you know, culture and our community needs to plant its flag in america and be, like, this is what we're about and start to tell our stories. as we start to tell our stories, we'll see, like, a community build over similar issues and similar experiences. >> i have a question. you said asian-american. obviously that's a very broad -- in terms of chinese versus japanese, korean -- >> burr meez-american. >> is it possible to have one unified community, or are you talking about 17 different communities? there is a difference. >> indian students would always want to be, like, we want to break out to other foods. do it, please. i love it. you know, like smaller focus groups. >> ben, out there, our friend across the room, my buddy, thank

you for hanging with us for -- do look for a way -- just talking about this in the broader political context, we speak monolithically about race and racial subgroups in this country, and, yet, we look at the obama coalition, which everybody says it is the sort of american coalition moving forward. you know, to what degree do you think that really changes the racism in near term? we talked about immigration in the last segment, but is this something we're going to start feeling in 2014 and 2016 and 2020, or is this the, like, 25 year change? >> well, i think your blow-up about appropriation, that's something that we're going to see a lot of, right? it's something that's making people both in kind of what's left of there being a dominant culture and in minority communities incredibly uncomfortable. it's a culture that people feel increasingly comfortable pulling in things that used to be off limits in some way. there's a web culture where people are constantly picking things up and remixing them in ways that disturb their elders. i think some people are going to have to get used to. >> that's you embodying that givening the fact that you are

able to make an incredible 76-layer nacho dip for -- >> 46. >> 47 layers. just conveniently featured in bon appetit, and make a mean black-eyed pea soup. i'm trying to think something of -- >> go back to the experts. >> go back to the experts. buzz feed's ben smith, thank you for hanging over there 25 feet away from us. coming up, super bowl sunday is upon us, and we will go beyond the chips, dips, and chicken wings and discuss trigs behind america's biggest unofficial holiday just ahead. this is america. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day after day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. bikes and balloons, and noodles on spoons. a kite, a breeze, a dunk of grilled cheese. catches and throws,

and spaghettio's. a wand, some wings, soup with good things. sidewalks and doodles and wholesome noodles. puddles and pails and yes, puppy dog tails. for a lunch like this, there's a hug and a kiss. because that's what happy kids are made of. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. one couple that probably won't be scarfing down nachos and buffalo wingses this super bowl sunday, unless they're emotional eaters, are the proud and very nervous parents of brother coaches john and jim harbough. >> we are neutral in this

situation. >> i know we will not have anything purple or we won't have anything red. >> we will discuss super bowl rul tour and other evolving american traditions when we continue our culinary discussion next on "now." to the best vacation spot on earth. (all) the gulf! it doesn't matter which of our great states folks visit. mississippi, alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible. thanks, karen. love your mississippi outdoors. i vote for your florida beaches, dawn. bill, this louisiana seafood is delicious. we're having such a great year on the gulf, we've decided to put aside our rivalry. now is the perfect time to visit anyone of our states. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beautiful. take a boat ride, go fishing or just lay in the sun. we've got coastline to explore and wildlife to photograph. and there's world class dining with our world famous seafood.

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are you like me, this sunday you will be adding extra tobasco sauce to your chicken wings and feeling guilty about how much more guacamole you've had compared to everyone else. super bowl sunday is the second biggest stuff your face festival of the year. 113 million -- last year 113 million americans tuneed in to watch the giants defeat the patriots. this year americans are expected to consume 1.23 billion chicken wings which averages close to four wings per patriotic citizen. laid end to end this is enough

chicken wings to stretch from san francisco to baltimore 27 times. as for snack foods, we are talking 30 million pounds with potato chips, tortilla chips and pretsels topping the list. you wrote a book on thanksgiving, but is the super bowl the next big american holiday? >> well, it certainly is in terms of food that makes you feel bad after you've eaten about 30 pounds. >> in a different way. >> in a different way. i'm interested by that chicken wing number because i wonder how many americans actually make theron chicken wings? i make my own chicken wings for the super bowl, and i'm sure these boys do. >> in your house, or do you do it outside? your apartment will smell like fried chicken for a week, which is not a bad thing necessarily. >> not a bad thing. >> carmelinni's apartment always smells like fried chicken. >> a popeye's is not a bad call if you are jammed up on super bowl. >> no. >> popeye's is not yet a sponsor of this show.

adam. there is a white house petition to declare monday following the super bowl a national holiday. there are 12,474 signatures so far. 87,000 more. we are growing up, and you are much, much, much older than me. >> wow. that just -- i'm kidding. >> we degree up in the district when the redskins were good. they had a kind of good year again this year, finally. >> and the dreamy years. but like it has changed in terms of being a cultural touch stone. you are the editor in chief of a great food magazine, and, you know, you take time out of your editorial calendar to think about the -- >> no, it's definitely a big deal, and people on-line and certainly on our website say what are you cooking for the super bowl and who is cooking what? you know nowadays you'll be there with your insta gram and twitter and everybody will be documenting every layer of nachos and everything else you're making. what sam was saying about his book, thanksgiving is a

codified. super bowl is whatever the heck you want, right? >> i think that's absolutely right. we fall to chicken wings, nachos, but really you see people -- hey, i make my super bowl meat loaf or i'm really into this gumbo i serve for the super bowl, and that in a way is kind of great. i celebrate the rules that make thanksgiving great, and i celebrate the anarchy that makes super bowl sunday -- >> gabe and rick are -- they have declared they're going to make homemade ramen. speaking of white boys talking about other cultural food, and i'm dubious. i'm going over there. i have no idea -- >> what is on eddie wong's menu for super bowl sunday? >> we don't have rules either, so super bowl is pot luck and karaoke kind of a set up. that's the same thing we would eat. i'll do double fried korean fried chicken. >> speaking of fried chicken, andrew. your chicken is legendary, and it's a little more available to the public. >> that's what we're doing for

super bowl. we're doing dutch fried chicken to go, and i'm going to make a huge seafood gumbo. a lot of crabs in there. a lot of shrimp. really, really, really dark rue. it's in new orleans this year, so i'm, like, gumbo -- >> you don't get why people eat wings when you can have the whole fried chicken. >> i could eat thighs. >> thighs and drums. that's it. >> let me bring this to a serious note for one moment and, sam, i'll direct this to you because you're at the "new york times". >> wow. >> it is worth thinking about, though, as we talk about, you know, thanksgiving food is one thing. super bowl food tends to be really high in calories. we are looking at an obesity epidemic, which is an epidemic. 35% of the u.s. adults in this country are obese. 17% of you as children and adolescents are obese. maybe if more people cooked at home and buying the extra huge bag of chips and sitting with them, it's our way of eating in america -- >> you're bumming me out. it's absolutely true. americans have such a strange relationship with food.

we are an obese nation. we celebrate sweet, spicy, crunchy. all these things that come out of the fry-o-lator, basically, and are doused with hot sauce and sugar, essentially, and it makes us sick, and it's killing us. if there's any good to be taken out of the fact that we cook a lot for super bowl is that maybe it will convince us to cook more at home, which will ultimately lead to better health. even if it's -- >> isn't that the one or two days a year, thanksgiving, you know, super bowl that you can just do it, you know what i mean? you can have big gumbo and have the fried chicken. have that pie. >> i'm saying it's an entry drug to cooking in any form and maybe if you have made that big gumbo and had a great time doing that at the super bowl after your awesome turkey that you got out of my thanksgiving book at thanksgiving, then maybe you'll figure out how to do a salad on a thursday night. >> the tradition of cooking. glen thrush, 25 feet away from us, let's do a round robin. we know that you -- you come from a cooking family.

what's on deck for super bowl sunday, buddy? >> well, i'm going to do pan jewish thing. i'm going to order out from three different chinese restaurants. no, actually, the truth of the matter is one of my neighbors always fries a turkey and -- >> that's -- look. >> i stand at distance and i have the cell phone on 911 auto dial. >> i like it. it's synergy. what are you having? >> i'm going to go with the gumbo as well. a duck gum bowe. >> does the times know how much toilet paper gets used on monday? >> you were doing so well. we were doing so well. literally eddie wong just off the rails. and that's where we have to leave it. >> you lost it. >> that's where we have -- wow. thank you to sam, eddie, andrew, adam, and glen. don't forget to pick up a copy of eddie's book "fresh off the boat." andrew's book "american flavor" and sam's become "thanksgiving" which is really a year-round

book. all are in store now's. >> and bone appetite magazine. >> subscribe. bon appetit making sfwleen. back here monday at noon eastern, 9:00 a.m. pacific when i'm joined by former chief economic advisor to vice president joe biden, ryan grim, new york magazine's benjamin wallace-wells and kneea malika henderson. can you check out the now team selections when you clog on. andrea mitchell reports is coming up next. you where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta®(eszopiclone) can help you get there. like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving, or engaging in other activities while asleep, without remembering it the next day, have been reported. lunesta should not be taken together with alcohol. abnormal behaviors may include aggressiveness, agitation, hallucinations, or confusion. in depressed patients, worsening of depression,

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